In today’s film news roundup, Jesse Metcalfe joins “The Latin From Manhattan,” Judith Light is honored and Franklin Leonard and Hayden Schlossberg are added to the speakers list for the Produced By Conference.
CASTING
Jesse Metcalfe will portray a federal agent in the independent biopic “The Latin From Manhattan,” joining Esai Morales, Drea De Matteo and Taryn Manning.
The movie, based on the life of adult film star Vanessa Del Rio, is scheduled to shoot in Los Angeles this summer. Vivian Lamolli is portraying Del Rio, the world’s first Latina adult star. The film explores Del Rio’s roller-coaster life, first as a street walker and burlesque dancer who then becomes one of the most popular sex stars of the VHS era.
The project is being produced by Yulia Safonova for Doom Incorporated and directed by Thomas Mignone, who also wrote the script. Executive producers are Edward Kahl and Nidal Kahl.
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Metcalfe broke out during his stint on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.” Other credits include “Chesapeake Shores,” “Two Broke Girls,” “Smallville” and the title role in “John Tucker Must Die.” Metcalfe is represented by the Gersh Agency, Untitled Entertainment and Jackoway & Associates.
HONOR
The Provincetown International Film Festival has selected two-time Tony Award winner Judith Light as the recipient of its excellence in acting award.
Light will attend the festival, located on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, to accept the award on June 15 at the Provincetown Town Hall. In 2012 and 2013, Light won Tony and Drama Desk awards for her performances in “Other Desert Cities” and “The Assembled Parties.”
She earned an Emmy nomination last year for her role in Ryan Murphy’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.” Light will star with Bette Midler and Ben Platt in Murphy’s Netflix series “The Politician” and with Alec Baldwin and Mandy Patinkin in “Before You Know it,” which premiered at Sundance and will close this year’s Provincetown festival, with director Hannah Pearl Utt in attendance.
CONFERENCE
The Producers Guild of America has added Black List founder Franklin Leonard, “Cobra Kai” creator Hayden Schlossberg and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” co-creator Dan Goor as speakers for the 11th annual Produced By Conference.
The event will take place on June 8 and 9 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. The conference includes panels like the Future of Producing; 360 Profile: “When They See Us,” featuring Ava DuVernay; and “The New Age of Producing Horror.”
Others speakers added to the lineup include Amy Israel of Showtime Networks; Barry Jossen, head of A+E Studios; Brandon Trost, cinematographer for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”; Lori McCreary, CEO and co-founder of Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment; Matthew Clark, cinematographer for “Late Night”; Sanjay Sharma, founder and CEO of Marginal Mediaworks; and Stephanie Allain of Homegrown Pictures.